Sep 032021
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

lady gaga covers

There was a time in this blog’s lifespan where a shocking percentage of the covers landing in our inbox and RSS feeds were of Lady Gaga songs. It only lasted a couple years, but for a minute there Gaga was doing Beatles numbers. Hell, even relatively minor singles like “Marry the Night” would dominate the covers world for weeks after people heard them.

As Gaga’s entered the Vegas-residency stage of her career, her new songs don’t get covered as often. But even still, there seems to be a respect from other musicians not afforded all her pop-star peers. A Katy Perry chart flop will get ignored. A Gaga chart flop will still likely land a few interesting covers.

Though the songs were never as weird as the outfits were, there was always some unexpected twist for other musicians to play with, from the rolled r’s of “Bad Romance” to the goofy theatricality of “Alejandro” to the best stuttering since “My Generation” (“pa-pa-pa-pokerface,” “stop telephoning me-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh”). Plus, even after a few years in the wilderness, everyone knew any minute she could return with a “Shallow.”

In our list of 30 covers below, all those big hits show up plenty. But even the more recent songs and album cuts make appearances. Lady Gaga’s songs are sturdy enough to remain infectious whether they’re performed as gothic metal or throwback rockabilly. See for yourself below.

The list begins on Page 2.

Dec 192013
 

I’m not sure there were more great cover songs this year than any other. But there were more good ones.

What I mean by that is, the average quality of the covers we come across in the time we’ve been around has risen, rather dramatically. Whether they’re iTunes homepage singles or some guy emailing us his Bandcamp, more cover songs in 2013 avoid the old pitfalls than ever before. They don’t sound like they were recorded in a cereal box, substitute ear-bleeding volume for actual creativity, or – the worst cover sin of all – try to carbon-copying the original. With the ease of production and distribution available now, artists seemed to record covers only when they felt they had something to add, and do a halfway decent job committing those ideas to 1s and 0s. Continue reading »

Jul 162013
 

It’s been over six months since we have seen a Lady Gaga cover here on Cover Me, and Folly and the Hunter must have realized that is simply not OK when they decided to perform this cover. OK, maybe the cover was recorded as a thank you to one of the band’s indiegogo contributors, but we still at Cover Me are very grateful. Continue reading »

Feb 102012
 

“Life Is a Highway,” one of Tom Cochrane’s best-known songs, has been a road-trip mixtape staple since its release back in 1990. Its upbeat, catchy chorus invites even the worst singers to belt along to the lyrics, and, recently, it caught the ears of Canadian indie folk band Folly and the Hunter. Continue reading »

Jul 072011
 

Stateside readers probably spent this past weekend lighting fireworks and chomping barbeque for Independence Day, but, as you probably know, our friends up north had a different holiday: Canada Day! To celebrate, one Nova Scotia blog curated a free new tribute album to Gordon Lightfoot, one of the country’s national treasures. Continue reading »